Gorgon
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Illya wakes up in Diagon with no idea how she got there, considering her last memory was of Gilgamesh killing her. To avoid being found out by the Einzberns and possibly killed, she enrolls in Hogwarts...and she's determined to have fun with the wizards. So what if she completely wrecks history in the process? She gets to save her father and finally have a proper family!
1. Chapter 1

_**To commemorate Friday the 13th, I am making Gorgon a full story! Oh, and I'm sure many of you are wondering why it's called "Gorgon" since the main character is Illyasviel, who is a die hard fan of Herakles.**_

 _ **Wonder no more!**_

 _ **I'm sure many of you are aware that Illya has the Mystic Eyes of Binding. And since she's a Slytherin in this story, I thought the title would fit.**_

 _ **Snake+being bound+ Illya's obvious love for Greek mythology= Medusa to me, ergo Gorgon. Hope that clears it up!**_

* * *

Illya's last memory was that of the Golden King Gilgamesh ruthlessly ripping her heart out.

So you could imagine her confusion waking up and finding herself in what was clearly a Magically-run alley where one could shop and buy spell components, among other things.

Fortunately her apparent age worked in her favor. There was an obvious Magus teacher walking with several other children about eleven to twelve.

Illya found herself dragged along with the other children, and passing a stray mirror noted with even more confusion that her 'age' appeared to be eleven.

It was odd because she had literally stopped aging shortly after her mother died acting as the vessel for the Grail in the war. Mere days before hearing her father had destroyed the Grail rather than take it in the name of the von Einzbern clan like he had been ordered.

Illya now knew about the taint, but that didn't mean she liked the fact her Grandfather had brainwashed her into trying to kill her brother. Or the fact that she had lost Berserker thanks to the errant Servant from the last war.

Illya managed to hide her confusion and bafflement until she saw the goblins. Imagine her shock when one took a single look at her, and then spoke in perfect German.

" _A homunculus? Which family do you belong to?"_ he said tiredly.

Illya blinked before she replied in the same language, though now she was on common ground _"I am Illyasviel Emiya, and I'm only_ half _homunculus thank you."_

If her Grandfather found her here instead of in Fuyuki trying to kill everyone and serving as the Lesser Grail, the consequences would be bad. Especially since she had no intention of replacing Berserker. However claiming her father's name might be able to throw off the scent until she could figure out what the heck was going on.

" _You'll have to claim your inheritance, if you are related to the Magus Killer. Third door on your right and go straight down the hall until you reach a door with the rune for blood."_

" _Thank you,"_ said Illya politely, as she followed his directions.

She waited in line for about five minutes, before her name was called.

"Cut your hand with this knife and let it drop onto the parchment. And be quick about it, I don't have all day," said the goblin.

Illya deftly pricked her finger and let three fat drops touch the parchment. Almost immediately her family history (a brief one on her mother's side, and a slightly longer one for her father's) appeared. To her relief, Shirou had been included on her father's side.

She repeated the process on a second sheet, this one to reveal 'vaults'. There was nothing for her mother's side, because the chance of her having any access to the von Einzbern vaults were next to nill. Especially if her Grandfather found out she was in what appeared to be London and not Japan.

Finding out her father Kiritsugu had a large vault...untouched...had been a surprise. Apparently the goblins created one to put all the gold for the Magi he killed, but had neglected to inform him about it.

Well, Illya was going to use it since she was technically the "heir" of the Emiya family, despite the fact she was half-homunculus. Shirou was adopted, and had never gained the small amount of the Emiya crest Kiritsugu had.

"Here's a key to the Emiya vault. Now is there anything else I can do to make you go away?"

Considering the fact she wouldn't be able to do ANYTHING while looking like an eleven-year-old, Illya decided to play the 'transfer' route. By this time she had already figured out she wasn't in a Magus-run society.

Oh no, she had clearly ended up in the far more inbred and idiotic _wizarding_ society. And if she was right that meant she could play herself off as a pure blood from Germany until she could figure out her next move. Even if it meant putting up with a bunch of annoying eleven-year-old wizards and witches who thought that they were the cream of the crop when even a third-rate Magus could kick their ass.

And don't get her started on the rampant inbreeding. At least the Magus families had the sense to marry _outside_ their native country more than inside. And never within the same family line. They might even marry a first or second-generation Magus into an established line like the von Einzberns if they jumped through hoops first.

Her father was lucky, because he had gained a wife without having to fight for it.

"I'm going to need a form so I can go to Hogwarts, since I'm too underage to do anything else," said Illya. Which was a lie. She was almost two full years older than Shirou, and he was a legal adult in the eyes of the wizards when she found him.

The goblin barked something and a lesser one came in with the forms.

"Fill these out. We can discuss the fees once you're done. Next!"

It took her fifteen minutes to fill them out.

After that she spent another thirty minutes haggling with the goblin in charge of student fees over the more ridiculous ones meant to scam muggleborns out of more money. A trick that started shortly after the balance of power shifted from the pure bloods to the muggles. A time when the amount of money from the pure bloods stagnated and the headmaster at the time figured out he could get more from the first generation magicals than he could from the older lines.

Any pure blood that signed up their son or daughter made a point to lower the cost after they found out the moment they picked the school of their choice. And if the child happened to be squib, well, no harm done.

Illya managed to get her tuition down to an even 50 galleons a month for the entire year, which was more than some people might have managed.

Honestly, it was cheaper to buy a year's worth of her favorite shampoo, conditioner and body wash than it was to pay a ten galleon fee per yer. And she didn't see a point of flying on a stick when there wasn't really any place to _fly_ outside of the magical areas, which were few and far in between. Unlike the wizards, Illya KNEW there were such things as air planes that could expose her.

There was also the dress robe fee, the _Daily Prophet_ fee, the Hogsmeade fee...the list went on and on.

In many ways, Illya was beyond glad she was a Magus-born. It had cut down many of the 'amenities' offered by the idiot wizards for new students heading to their precious school.

To be quite honest, she was a bigger fan of the Quibbler and at most Hogsmeade was little more than a quaint tourist village on par with the one where the von Einzberns displayed their mead every year for Oktoberfest.

No thank you.

She was on her way out from the inner parts of the bank when she ran into the most adorable boy with green eyes and messy hair.

"Sorry!" he said quickly, as Illya brushed herself off.

"It's my fault for not looking where I was going. Are you heading into the vaults too?" she asked.

He nodded, though it was clear he was nervous.

"Perhaps I can keep you distracted. I've heard the goblins don't exactly give people a comfortable ride to their gold," said Illya.

Actually she heard that the ride was much like a mundane roller coaster, but she wasn't going to spoil it.

* * *

To sum up Illya's odd day, or perhaps dream, she counted everything off.

First, she woke up from something she SHOULD have died from in an eleven-year-old body when she should have been NINE.

Second, she found herself in the 'wizard-society', which was far beyond backward compared to the Magus-society she was used to. They still believed they were in the Victorian-age, for Akasha's sake! Anyone with an iota of common sense would be able to rule them within a week, if that!

Third, she had apparently traveled in time to before their little war ended permanently.

Four, she was now the first real friend of the one who ENDED the war, a much more timid Harry Potter. Frankly it was common consensus he had gotten the bad end of that deal, as he would have been much more effective if Magus-trained.

At the very least he wouldn't have been so desperate to have married one of his die-hard fan girls. So much potential lost because Dumbledore was the WORST tactician to have ever lived, and a hypocrite of the highest order.

Five, she needed time to plan her next move. If this really _was_ the past, then she had a chance to summon Berserker again and this time she wasn't going to try and kill her brother. She might even be able to land Harry as a valuable ally in getting rid of the golden bastard who either killed her or damn near killed her because she was the lesser grail.

She was going to have fun messing with the idiots of Hogwarts...

* * *

It was cute how Harry stuck to her like glue as she easily navigated the King's Cross Station, despite never coming here. Around her neck was her new cat, who she named Iris, after her mother. The pale white cat with red eyes watched the world around her with amused, if calculating interest. She had bought the cat because it reminded her of what little she remembered of her mother.

Any magically born child (Magus or otherwise) knew the entrance to the train to Hogwarts was to take the third pillar between platforms nine and ten, between the hours of nine A.M. to eleven A.M. on the specified dates. The days the portal were open were never said, but most generally believed it to be September first, if only because there was usually a rash of wizard-born gawking at the mundanes around that day.

Illya was going to put that theory to the test.

"Where's the platform?" asked Harry.

"It's the third pillar between nine and ten. It's a portal that takes you to a subspace that is only open on specific days, but is solid any other time. You have to walk through the pillar to get onto the platform," said Illya.

Harry looked dubious, so Illya stuck her hand on the pillar...only for it to vanish halfway. Such a small trick, but enough to convince Harry there was something there. Taking a deep breath, Harry charged forward...and found himself on a train platform filled with odd people.

"Did I or did I not say that there would be a platform?" said Illya, pushing her cart at a much more sedate pace. Once you've fought in a Grail War, you tend to not freak out at the littlest detail.

Harry looked sheepish, but was able to get their trunks up to the top rack with Illya's help.

Once they settled in, Illya brought out some manga she had bought at the mundane bookstore and passed one to Harry to read. It was called _Negima,_ and it featured a boy wizard who inadvertently creates a harem of most of his class despite being only ten.

Harry eagerly dove into the book...at least once Illya explained how one was supposed to read it.

The two spent a quiet time reading, ignoring the 'demands' of the older students wearing green and silver ties.

For some reason, not a single one of them could match Illya's stare down without running. Eventually only two students were able to secure a seat in the same compartment. A bushy haired, anal retentive girl named Hermione Granger, and a nervous pure blood by the name of Neville Longbottom.

Granger was easy to deal with. She was so eager to prove herself that she soaked up anything Illya told her like a sponge, considering she was claiming to be a German pure blood.

The girl honestly had no idea how backwards the wizarding society was, and even Neville seemed taken aback by how scathing Illya spoke about it.

"They're idiots. They still think wizards are the superior race despite the fact that the mundanes outnumber any magical bloods 3 to 1 in most countries, and that's before you get into the rather disturbing issue of the fact that most of the English stock tend to marry in-house, so to speak. At least in Germany we have the sense to go abroad to find suitable partners, instead of marrying within the same lines. And don't get me started on how backwards it is here. You'd think you were in the Victorian era with Queen Victoria still on the throne with the way they go about. The most technologically advanced thing they have is a radio! An old fashioned one that uses bulbs at that!"

Seeing the surprised look on Neville's face, Illya smirked.

Hermione looked appalled.

"You're joking."

"I wish. I wouldn't have even chosen a school as backwards as Hogwarts if it weren't cheaper than Durmstrang. Though if I were you I'd ask to adjust your school fees next time you're in Gringotts. About two hundred and fifty years ago a headmaster decided he'd milk the first-gens since the pure bloods started clamping down on their vaults, so they slipped in a ton of hidden fees. I've gotten mine down to fifty galleons a month, instead of the usual hundred fifty."

"What was the conversion rate for galleons to pounds again?" asked Hermione.

"Five pounds to one galleon," said Illya, who watched with open amusement as Hermione calculated the conversion rate.

Hermione bristled, much like a furious squirrel.

" _Seven hundred and fifty?!"_ she hissed.

"Compared to my two hundred and fifty, it's obscene," said Illya smugly.

"I could be attending an exclusive private school for that kind of money!"

"Again, speak to the goblins in charge of the school fees. Or if nothing else, look in to alternative magical schools. Hogwarts is good if you want the bare bones of wizard schooling, but it's rife with house discrimination and blood supremacy. Headmaster Dumbledore does nothing to curtail the worst of the bullying, and the teaching has gone downhill in recent years. The history teacher is a ghost that does nothing but put students to sleep every class, and the Defense teacher is changed every year. It's inconsistent."

Hermione looked aghast.

Neville looked confused.

"Why do you hate Hogwarts so much?"

"Magus born and bred. I wouldn't be here if I had a choice in the matter," she replied flatly.

"What's a Magus?" asked Harry, speaking up.

"Magus are the considered the oddballs of the magical society. They have their own school in London, but it's harder to get into than any wizard school," said Neville.

Illya rolled her eyes.

"The Clock Tower isn't overly difficult, it's just that wizards dislike the fact we have an actual REASON to discriminate against first generation magicals without having to bring in blood prejudice into it," said Illya.

"What," said Hermione.

"In Magus families, the longer your lineage, the more established your connection to magic is. In Wizard families, while this is also true, the fact is that in recent years they've decided to quit focusing on advancing magical knowledge and focus more on persecuting the other magical species and believing that marry anyone with the same family line will make their magic stronger. And they don't even bother to train their magic once they're out of school! They're beyond lazy!" said Illya.

It was the same impassioned rant any Magus had of wizards. Magi at least had a goal to work towards! Wizards didn't even have that, and they scoffed at the idea of rituals!

Hermione looked aghast at the idea. Even Harry looked upset. Neville...looked confused, though to be fair he'd be happy just tending his garden.

"In any case, I'm only going here because there's no way I could go to Clock Tower this early, and it would be interesting to see magic from a _wizard's_ perspective," said Illya smugly.

About halfway to the castle, Illya got her first look at the infamous Malfoy family heir.

Draco appeared in their car with his goons, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

Illya took one look at them and sniffed haughtily.

"So I suppose it's true what they say about British pure bloods. They don't understand basic manners."

Draco bristled.

"Like a mudblood like you would know."

Illyasviel sneered at him.

"My name, little boy, is Illyasviel Emiya. Daughter of Irisviel von Einzbern and Kiritsugu Emiya. At least my family wasn't chased out of their ancestral homes because of their heir raped a maiden of their ally promised to another family," sneered Illya.

Draco's face paled the second she mentioned her mother's last name, and then flared to red the second she reminded him why their name was "Malfoy", which meant Bad Faith.

The pale haired boy growled at the girl, who smiled innocently at him.

"Crabbe, Goyle, get her," snarled Draco.

Illya merely dusted off her skirt and put herself firmly in front of the two goons and gave them her best imperious glare. She was a Magus, and the previous Master of Berserker. Compared to the great Servant Herakles, these two inbred twits were _nothing_.

The two hulking boys looked into Illya's red eyes, and to the shock of Neville, backed down. Her eyes were as cold as the von Einzbern castle in winter, and just as friendly as their welcome to outsiders who were on the last of their patience. Her eyes said only one thing.

These two were little more than potion ingredients if they were lucky, and live test subjects for anything she could conceive if they weren't. When it came to Magi, there were things worse than death and they didn't try to limit what they were allowed to learn unless it had proved too extreme even for their loose morals.

Like research into Apostles, Reality Marbles, or anything that would expose magecraft to the world in general.

The goons looked at the innocent smiling Illyasviel, then at Draco, before coming to an almost instant agreement.

"Are you hiring?" asked Crabbe.

"I could use some big strong enforcers who won't ask too many awkward questions," said Illya. At least until she found some way to get her hands on Berserker again. A pair of overweight, hulking _wizards_ would make acceptable replacements until that point.

"What are you doing?!" hissed Draco.

Goyle looked at Draco with a flat expression.

"It's called 'not getting killed by a girl'," said Goyle.

"And here I assumed inbreeding had killed all the brain cells of the pure bloods. I'm impressed you recognized the real alpha here," said Illya honestly.

Her fangs had cut back some of her bite, but when it came to _wizards_ all bets were off.

She was a von Einzbern, after all.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time the train reached the station, Illya had acquired a pair of new enforcers, scared the hell out of every wizard who tried to meet her eyes, despite being rather short, and discreetly placed herself as the top of the first year pure blood food chain.

Oh, and helped Neville find his missing toad, but honestly that thing was better off as potion ingredients. No one kept _toads_ anymore unless they were highly poisonous and to be used in killing your enemies. Trevor didn't even have _that_ going for him.

And the castle wasn't much to look at, though the ceiling was a nice touch. She might have to look into that...if she didn't enjoy sleeping in. An evil thought struck her...she had noticed the Tohsaka heir happened to be an anti-morning person through her familiars in the Emiya house.

What better way to annoy Rin than to literally have her wake up at the crack of dawn because her room looked like it was outside?

Illya didn't have to wait long for her name to be called. Either way, her name was the fifth letter of the English alphabet.

"Emiya, Illyasviel!" called McGonagall.

 _ **Interesting. Very interesting indeed. It has been a long time since a Magus child has entered these halls, and you haven't been a true child in a very long time.**_

 _So which house do I belong to, Hat-san?_

 _ **With your natural intelligence, Ravenclaw might seem ideal...however you're a Magus through and through. Have fun teaching these rookies what real cunning and ambition is in...**_

"SLYTHERIN!"

Illya got up primly, and walked calmly and assuredly to the green and silver table. The older students who had tried to force her to give up _her_ compartment wisely did not meet her eyes a second time. One by one, the other students were sorted. Some, like Malfoy and Parkinson, were not surprising at all with the way they were almost immediately sorted into Slytherin.

Then came the name that had everyone waited with baited breath. The hat argued with Potter for a good five minutes before loudly declaring to an anticipating audience... "SLYTHERIN!"

Stone silence... then Illya beamed at Harry who cautiously sat next to her. Dumbledore looked disappointed for some reason, and Snape looked like someone had slapped him silly with a fish.

Illya was going to have such fun breaking those two, particularly Snape.

* * *

In the span of a single night, after Illya claimed the best bed, she took unofficial control of the Slytherin house. Or at least half of it anyway.

It started out simply.

People noticed that when it came to normal social interaction, Potter stayed very close to the odd albino girl. Then came the notice that some of the less than pleasant Slytherins, all older years who wouldn't think much of ordering a first year around, especially an unknown foreigner, went out of their way to _avoid_ her as if they were afraid.

But the biggest factor?

The heirs of the Crabbe and Goyle families had promptly abandoned the Malfoy scion's side despite orders from their fathers to the odd girl.

Which meant one of three things.

Betrayal by Malfoy, which wasn't likely considering how early in the year it was. Bewitched, also unlikely considering the girl's age and the fact there had been little to no time to set up something like that. Or they were doing it because they sensed a bigger predator that made even _them_ wary of angering, loyalty or not.

Considering the actions of the older students, the last was the most likely prospect. Which made the older and wiser students wary.

Illyasviel Emiya was a wolf in a pack of sheep, and after being around her without the other students buffering it, they could feel it instinctively. Which kind of begged the question why Potter felt so comfortable around her.

In a single week, Harry Potter had come to a single conclusion.

Illya was absolutely right when she said wizards were lazy, unmotivated, and a bunch of sheep.

Using skills he had honed for _years_ living with his so called relatives, Harry listened and learned.

Slytherins tried to be cunning and sneaky, but when faced with the real thing had no clue how to react. It was like they were going through the motions of hating muggles and any first generation magicals (or as Illya called them, First Gens), but it lacked the bite of actual hate. It was more like they were parroting without any knowledge _why_ they were doing it.

As for Illya's obvious wolf image (according to Blaize, when Harry asked why the older students were so freaked by her), there was a reason why Harry stuck close, despite the fact everyone else was afraid of her.

Underneath his timid nature was the spirit of a child forced to live in abhorrent conditions and treated worse than most pure bloods treated house elves. Once he found out how to act in this new society, the real Harry was going to make an appearance.

And he was just waiting for the chance to fight back for once.

If Illya was a wolf that only acted tame, then Harry was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Malfoy was just annoying, though that was nothing compared to Weasley.

Ron thought that Harry had 'betrayed wizard kind' because he chose Slytherins over Gryffindors.

Didn't the idiot know that the placement of students didn't depend on the parents, but their personality?

Slytherins used cunning and trickery to survive, while Gryffindors charged right in.

And while backstabbing was kept in-house, at least they were willing to stand behind him outside.

It was nice to know the unofficial boundary line, and that no matter what they were at least consistent with the way they acted.

Gryffindors didn't even have _that_ much, if the way the twins acted was any indication. At least Hermione lucked out and got Ravenclaw, after hearing Illya's blunt assessment of the houses, while Neville went to Hufflepuff.

Illyasviel was absolutely enjoying herself. Wizard magic, unlike magecraft, didn't weaken the more people used it. In fact their cores got _stronger_ the more they used magic, though that no magic over the holidays was actually a control exercise for the first gens.

Magi and Wizards might not get along, but they did agree on one thing, even if it was for different reasons.

No exposing magic to the normals, unless they were close family, and sometimes not even then.

Magi because it meant that they would have to do a little...cleansing...of the witnesses.

Wizards, because they remembered all too well the pain of the witch hunts because of a few idiots and bad timing.

The thing was that the main reason they placed a no-magic rule was to teach first-gens an exercise in restraint. Children were always showing off, and that could be disastrous if people learned about magic.

Magi didn't bother with the 'warning' rule. If you came close to exposing magic, they'd send the Enforcers, no matter what age you were. It was why most families had the sense to stay in-house, or to instill the fear of being killed by normal humans before they were even remotely shown their first piece of magecraft.

Even that idiot Shinji had been able to grasp the 'no using magic in front of mundanes' rule, though it might have been more of a case that he _couldn't_ use magic than knowing better.

Killing him had been fun.

But here, here she was practically a queen. None of the students below fifth year _dared_ to oppose her, and the one idiot who TRIED ended up humiliated beyond anything the pathetic lions could pull off.

Pansy Parkinson learned the hard way you don't comment about Illya's family. She was lucky Illya had been feeling merciful at the time.

Otherwise it wouldn't have been kept in house.

And Potter...Potter was coming along nicely. He was considered Illya's second in command because he picked up her little lessons about being a Magus very quickly, and stuck to her side like glue. But at the same time his presence wasn't cloying, more like the silent sentinels that had been the homunculus pair that came with her to Fuyuki and served as her teachers/maids/guardians.

She had no idea if they even survived the assault on the Einzbern Castle when Gilgamesh showed up and killed her.

She was still trying to puzzle out how having her heart ripped out would somehow cause her to end up in what she could only assume was the past in a wizard's alley. Not that she was complaining, mind you, but it was rather curious.

And there was nothing a Magus child loved more than solving a mystery that not even their parents had experienced.

Then again Illya had noticed something the wizards took for granted.

Harry knew how to slip into places unseen, and more importantly when to keep quiet and _listen_. He was a spy, and in terms of Servants he could suit either Caster or Assassin, more likely than not the Servant of the Silent Blade.

The only obstacle to that route was the fact Harry had never taken a life, except perhaps that of animals.

If he wished to become a useful servant, rather than a tool, to her he would have to get over that limitation. Somehow, she didn't think it would be too difficult to accomplish.

Harry's life had been less than pleasant, from what she understood, and it had taken relatively little time for him to pick up on the 'lethal' and "Dark" spells once the war got bad enough without Dumbledore holding him back.

Besides, she still had to find a way to get in contact with her father Kiritsugu without the Einzberns finding out. If she was right, then there was a chance she could make up for the time lost because her 'grandfather' had been furious with Kiritsugu for ending the war without actually GAINING the stupid Grail.

And if she played her cards right, she could keep her new favorite minion with her. Root only knew that Harry's "Aunt" wanted nothing to do with him.

Still, there were some days Illya wondered why she bothered to hide the fact she was in Hogwarts at all.

Days like the confrontation with Severus Snape, for instance...

* * *

Illya felt the first 'hit' from the legilmency probe during her interview with Snape, two days before the first potions lesson. Unlike the other houses (except Hufflepuff) Snape preferred to get a handle on any illnesses or issues before the other teachers forced him to deal with it.

Family was more or less ignored unless there was outright abuse, in which case he _would_ give a damn about their home life long enough to at least give them a way out. Snape might loathe having to work with children, but he didn't tolerate abuse in any way, shape or form.

Health wasn't an issue, outside of checking off a premade form about shots and the like...though there were a few cases where he had to make sure to tell the house elves about certain dietary restrictions. It wasn't often, but there was the occasional diabetic student that had to have a special diet, or a restriction on what could be placed within reach during feasts.

Then came the psychiatric evaluation, though he didn't phrase it that way. No, he called it a 'talk'. That was when he used the legilmency, to verify that they weren't outright lying to him.

He certainly hadn't anticipated Illya's automatic reaction to the probing.

She slammed her Occulmency barriers down on him, hard. It was like a wall of glacier ice, as cold and unforgiving as the environment outside the Einzbern castle during winter.

She was half tempted to use her Mystic Eyes on him, but while he had thoroughly pissed her off, he had yet to give her reason to show off any of her ace in the holes.

Wizards were limited to wands and incantations. Magi didn't have to worry about such things, if they prepared themselves correctly.

Once he got over the shock, Snape's estimation of the girl went up considerably. He might not be as subtle as Dumbledore, but most children couldn't detect a probe almost instantaneously like that.

"Since you are going to be difficult, I suppose we'll have to fill this out the hard way. Let's start with the simple questions first... What the hell is a Magus doing in a school full of wizards?" said Snape bluntly.

It was obvious to those that knew the difference what Illyasviel Emiya _was_...but it didn't explain why she was here. Magi typically looked down on wizards, and most pure bloods would do the same. At least those like the Malfoys anyway, who weren't stupid enough to piss off an older family.

"I was about to die from having my heart ripped out, and woke up with no memory how I ended up in Diagon Alley. Since I'm not entirely sure if this is the same past I remembered, I thought I might as well see what the whole hubbub about Hogwarts was about...and piss off some senile old men at the same time. Lowering the casualties of your little war is just bonus."

Snape paled.

"You know how it ends?"

"Dumbledore ends up dead at your hand, even though he was doomed anyway from the curse he got stuck with, Voldemort ends up dying at the hand of Potter only after he briefly commits suicide to rid himself of the soul piece in his scar, and a lot of people died that shouldn't have. And nothing actually changes outside of a few more lines being wiped out because Tom Riddle just had to continue throwing his hissy fit," said Illya shrugging.

Her grandfather insisted she learn about the recent war, if only to emphasize the folly of wizards and why it was a bad idea to marry inside the same lines.

The fact he hated Dumbledore with a passion because he had done something to royally piss off her grandfather had nothing to do with it. Nope, not one bit. Pointing out the other old man's follys was something he had enjoyed just a bit too much though.

"We're getting off topic. What are your current goals and how badly do you plan to harm _my_ Snakes?"

"Mostly I'm killing time until I can see if this is the same past I remember, preferably by getting in touch with my father. An owl would be too obvious and he wouldn't trust it in any case. As far as I'm aware he's never had ANY contacts with wizards and I'm supposed to still be in the castle in the Germany, well out of reach of any wizard alleys. As for your _snakes_ , the only plan I have is to teach them a lesson they should have learned years ago. They are not the top dogs of this world, and learning there are people out there who are less nice than I am in reminding them of that will do them some good. At the very least that fool Malfoy will learn his place," said Illya darkly.

Malfoy had not made a good impression on Illya, and it was all she could do to keep the fact her mother was an Einzbern from the general populace. While it would shut him up in an immediate fashion, it also ran the risk of the fact a 'second' Illyasviel was around. And they only needed one.

She had no desire to accidentally end up as an experiment in Clock Tower.

Snape looked her long and hard in the eyes.

"Permanent maiming and killing are off limits, but temporary damage and psychological trauma are acceptable so long as it doesn't bring their parents down on _my_ head. Are we clear?"

"Crystal, Professor," chirped Illya with an innocent smile that didn't suit the subject matter _at all_.

"I do have to wonder...what is Potter's role in all this?"

"Harry's role is simple. He's my means to drive the old goat insane. It's considered common knowledge that Dumbledore held him back from his true potential, and if I train him right he won't end up being forced to marry a _fan girl_ when the dust settles. He could have been much more interesting if he had the training of a Magus."

Snape nodded.

"I'll reserve my opinion until after my interview."

Illya decided to nip something else in the bud as well.

"It's also considered common knowledge that Potter was sent to live with his _mundane_ aunt. And that after he reached his majority he gladly cut all ties with them," she added.

Snape paused and looked at Illya with horrified eyes.

"He sent him to _Petunia_?" he asked.

"You can confirm it yourself," said Illya smugly.

"You're dismissed. Send in Potter next will you?"

Illya gave him a polite curtsey, not because she thought he warranted it, but because she had been brought up properly by people who understood the _Rules_ of polite society everywhere, even in the wizard's backward understanding of it. There were protocols one should follow if you actually respected someone, especially if you were a girl.

Not that she cared about the whole 'marriage and babies' bit.

Whatever was said to Snape in that interview (the only outward sign was the addition of fresh fruits and vegetables on Harry's side of the table, and a brief visit to the school nurse for potions), it did wonders for their student-teacher relationship.

Specifically the fact Snape didn't openly attack Harry during potions two days later.


	3. Chapter 3

Illya could only take so much bragging before she lost her patience.

Draco suddenly found himself without a voice to speak with.

"Really Malfoy, one would think with your sort of _breeding_ that you would know better than to act like a weak braggart," sneered Illya.

Across and beside her, Crabbe, Goyle and Potter sat in high alert. The first two had become Illya's _unofficial_ bodyguards, not that she needed it since the first and only encounters with some of the older Snakes had left them in compromising and extremely humiliating conditions that put the Weasley twin's pranks to shame, had they been public.

All fighting stayed in house, but rumors still managed to get out despite keeping it hush-hush.

All those who weren't Slytherins knew of the 'Incident' was that a group of rather dim Snakes had done something to royally piss off the albino girl with red eyes to the point that the snakes refused to speak of the details and that all attempts to obliviate the memory had been pointless because at some point someone would comment on it and bring the entire thing to the forefront anyway.

The only thing that the rumor mill could gather was that it had something to do with the fact they had made some comment on Illyasviel's mother. A comment that got her so angry she decided to make an example of them.

A pissed off witch was bad enough...a pissed off female Magus with a complete lack of morals and willing helpers was infinitely worse. _Especially_ if said female Magus had the ability to completely bypass any spell defenses with a pair of Mystic Eyes specifically designed to render any poor bastard who angered her helpless in a matter of seconds.

While it wasn't _quite_ up to the same standards of the Gorgon Medusa, Illyasviel didn't exactly NEED to turn them to stone to make examples of them.

Illyasviel still preferred Herakles to Medusa though.

Draco glared at her. Illya shrugged it off with practiced ease.

Compared to her grandfather, his glare barely rated notice. And since she was half-homunculus, she had a higher magic resistance than most wizards. Her grandfather had only made it even higher thanks to the experiments he did before she was born.

If Irisviel had failed, then she was to become the back up...and a back up Lesser Grail could very well have weak defenses against magical spells, now could it?

In short, unless Draco knew some high level Dark Magic with an over B-ranking on the Magus scale, he wasn't likely to do anything more than annoy her.

To put things into perspective, the Killing Curse had a 'C-rank' according to the scale. After all, first-rate Magi like the Einzberns and the Edelfelts weren't about to let some silly law about _killing_ and _torture_ get in the way of their chance at reaching the Root of All Things. There were, after all, worse things than death to a Magus.

Like getting there after being subject to a large number of experiments courtesy of your fellow Magus once you were no longer interesting.

And honestly, there were easier ways to kill people than a spell that practically _screams_ what it's about to do the second people hear you cast it.

Draco didn't like being the top dog his father _assured_ him that he would become the moment he was sorted where he belonged.

Unfortunately for Draco, his mother either intercepted or had been owled without his knowledge by the devil that was Illyasviel Emiya about his behavior...because shortly before he was to send yet another missive complaining about the she-demon, his mother reminded him pointedly that he was a _Black_ and therefor if he didn't like being second best to the albino German then he should DO something about it rather than 'bitch and moan about it' to his father.

And he was quoting his mother on that. The fact his father had agreed with his mother only made it worse. He also said pointedly that he would thrown any future letters that carried in the same vein straight to the fire unless he was reporting anything actually worth listening to.

Harry, who was the only one either brave (or tolerated) to sit next to Illya, sighed.

"I understand why you silenced him, but you do realize he's going to be more annoying later, right?"

"If I hear one more incorrect thing about flying I'm going to do worse than just shut him up," said Illya flatly.

Blaise, who was now the unofficial Slytherin prince if only because Illya had yet to go after him like she did Draco, spoke up.

"What do you mean incorrect?"

"For one thing he got several facts about mundanes wrong. Helicopters and air planes are much faster than any broom, and if he had been flying high enough to be seen by any then he would have to be close to an air port. And if he was stupid enough to fly _that_ close, then he would have broken the Statute of Secrecy. I highly doubt he's ever even _seen_ a mundane aircraft, as they can be quite noisy and I don't see the Malfoys putting up with even a fraction of it, let alone mundanes being that close," clarified Illya.

"You talk like you've seen them," said Pansy snidely. She disliked Illya for taking her spot as the new Slytherin Princess. Though the title Queen would have been more accurate.

"Grandfather is...stingy...with port keys. And the only time I've flown was into a mundane area under control of a Magical for a tournament that requires you stay in the area until it's over," clarified Illya, sneering at Pansy.

It was amazing how quickly she gained control over these backwards idiots just by pretending she was back in the castle she once called home.

It wasn't that she hated wizards...she just hated idiots. And most wizards were sheep who followed the strong and rarely bothered to protect the weak.

So long as she presented a strong front and didn't let anyone expose a perceived weakness (in this case her mother's true nature), she could survive seven years of what was likely to be boredom _and_ build up some potentially useful contacts.

Contacts that could help her summon Berserker all over again. Say what you would of the Holy Grail War, but more often than not people developed actual BONDS with their Servants, or at least became fond of them.

"In any case, either Draco is lying about his experience with a broom, or he has been blowing his actual knowledge of the subject out of proportion in order to impress everyone. I find either reason very annoying and if I hear another word about you 'out-flying' a mundane air craft I will hex you," said Illya simply.

Once again, Illya had shredded any chance of Draco gaining any points in the eyes of his peers.

It was little wonder that his 'bodyguards' had been quick to jump ship before he had a chance to take them down with him, so to speak. Either that or they instinctively knew a 'predator' when they saw one.

If Draco was a parrot, mindlessly repeating his father almost verbatim in order to try and copy him, then Illya was large cat stalking her prey until it came time to end them.

All it meant in the end was that when it came time to chose sides, people would be more inclined to back the terrifying albino witch than they would Malfoy and possibly Voldemort. And Illya made it blatantly clear she considered Dumbledore an idiot.

The one time Draco called her 'loyalty' into question, specifically which side of the "Light versus Dark" spectrum she fell on, Illya had torn apart both the Dark Lord _and_ Dumbledore in equal measure. Then at the end of it all, she coolly informed the stunned blond that she was raised a 'Neutral Dark', meaning she wouldn't hesitate with the nastier spellwork if she was pressed. To be fair, that _was_ the classification the 'wizards' gave the von Einzbern family centuries ago, and Illya was a von Einzbern both in training and in blood.

* * *

Illya looked at the broom with a disdainful expression on her face.

She did not train her ass off and learn magecraft just to fly a glorified _stick!_ Especially not one that looked about as safe as riding a pegasus. Sure it would get you to your destination, but there was always the risk of it bucking you off at the worst time.

She had heard rumors about Hogwarts school brooms, but she hadn't expected them to be a scant _step_ above kindling.

Harry looked decidedly nervous himself.

Illya took it upon herself to reassure him.

"Relax. You, at least, haven't been bragging to the ramparts about how good you are at flying. The worst that happens is that the broom breaks from under you and you fall a few feet."

Harry still looked nervous, but at least he didn't look like he was about to throw up anymore. Illya didn't bother to tell him that he was actually a natural...so much so that he became the youngest seeker in a full century.

She still didn't like having to hear about Quidditch though.

Watching the events with a dispassionate gaze, Illya managed to fly for the first time.

While it was enjoyable being able to toss aside the confines of gravity, even for a few moments, flying a broom was hardly the most practical way of getting around. And she knew the bare bones of how to use apparition, but given that she had only ever been in the main castle of the Einzberns and was doomed to die at the end of the Grail war anyway, she had never been formally taught. And making port keys was an art that they had never passed on to her, and she had never been interested in.

Looks like she had something to do over Christmas break at least. Harry was safe enough alone, provided Snape did his best to keep Dumbledore far, far away from him.

Besides, she still needed to make arrangements. Good thing she had memorized her father's number in Fuyuki, even if it was after he had died.

Information was vital, even if it was something as mundane and useless as knowing someone's phone number, and she had delved into anything she could get her hands on since her grandfather's attitude took a one-eighty against Kiritsugu.

Illya watched with a bored expression as Harry demonstrated his ability to fly was above and beyond that of his classmates.

She suspected his element was Air, or something close to it with how little resistance he was experiencing. It would certainly explain a lot. Especially on that broom.

Snape was quick to call Harry in after hearing the reports, since there was one thing he would love it was to one-up McGonagall by having the son of her former pupils acting as the new Slytherin seeker. Nothing would make her smile become more fake than having to watch Potter win the cup for Slytherin.

* * *

Illya was in a foul mood. Ron had, once again, proven his mouth was bigger than his brain could handle. The way he insulted Hermione, who was the closest thing Illya had a to a sounding board (she was a bit too abrasive to be labeled 'friend') had pissed her off to no little extent.

She didn't feel the least bit sorry sending his own brothers, including the anal retentive Percy, after him by telling them what she saw. The fact that some of their house confirmed it only made it worse.

Fortunately Illya had promptly gone into the bathroom and forced Granger out. She remembered there would be a troll, and she didn't want to deal with having to chase it down later.

The Slytherins were clearly uncomfortable with a known mudblood at their table, but at least it was a know-it-all Ravenclaw and not some idiot Gryffindor. She was toeing the line, but had yet to cross it.

So when Quirrel burst into the room declaring to all and asunder that a TROLL had gotten loose in the castle, Illya firmly pushed Hermione to her own table, who promptly questions why she had been with the snakes in the first place.

It was accepted that the Ravenclaws RAN the entire Hogwarts Gossip Network, which had an affiliate branch with the Magical News Wireless.

Which meant they were the nosiest busybodies outside the Ministry.

"You knew about the troll, didn't you?"

"Why Harry, whatever made you think I have anything to do with that useless creature in the castle? It's almost like you would also think I know exactly what's on the third floor," said Illya with a smile. A smile that said while she wasn't involved, she had prior knowledge. A smile that only played at innocence.

"So who set the troll loose?" asked Blaise.

"Quirrel. He was the last one in the hall, and if he saw the troll then why was he anywhere near the dungeons? His private rooms are nowhere near them. Speaking of which, I think we should stay put, as should the Hufflepuffs."

Blaise caught on quickly.

"Both of our houses would lead us in the general area of the dungeons, where the troll was sighted," said Blaise.

"Precisely," said Illya.

Which was exactly what they did. While the Slytherins weren't exactly brave, they did have a finely tuned sense of self-preservation.

They learned pretty damn fast for _wizards_ that Illyasviel was not to be crossed. She was the de facto leader of the Snakes, and made sure to keep a tight hand on them when needed.

The first indication was the sudden drop in hexing between the halls, and the use of the word _'mudblood'._

Illya had challenged the upper years the first moment she heard of it, and then told the Slytherins they had better come up with a reason to use such an...uncivilized...word around her. They had to explain why they hated muggles, and it had to be a legitimate one. It couldn't be because their ancestors hated them or because they didn't have magic.

When pressed as to _why_ they automatically HATED anything muggle, the Slytherins had been openly stumped. Even Draco couldn't come up with a decent reason to openly hate muggles, outside of 'because their parents told them to'.

And when they discovered Illya had a very good grasp on muggles and their technology, while at the same time respecting the old ways like any normal pure blood, she suddenly found herself explaining things the rare Muggle Studies student was baffled by.

Since the snakes and the badgers refused to leave the Great Hall until the troll was either removed or dealt with (with the approval of their Heads of House once Illya explained why...which lead to two of the teachers staying in the Great Hall with them, just in case) Illya decided to kill time by creating an impromptu class about 'muggles', which she called Mundanes because it was far less offensive.

By the time the troll was...disposed of, they learned the Gryffindors had the bad luck of running into the thing shortly after splitting off from the Ravenclaws. Apparently the troll had left the dungeons shortly after Quirrel warned them.

In a strange twist, the Weasley Twins were the heroes of the hour, because it had been their pranks that had distracted the troll (and alerted the teachers of the fact it had moved) long enough for the adults to arrive. McGonagall was too relieved her lions were safe to question _why_ they had that many wet start fireworks on hand.

Apparently they were originally planning to liven up the Halloween Feast by sneaking off to start some while everyone was eating.

Either way, the fact they had them was ignored in favor of the fact it had saved a few of the first and second years from being harmed by a troll. Even Percy couldn't fault them for it.


	4. Chapter 4

It was Harry's first Quidditch match, and Illya had assured him she would go the extra mile to make sure nothing happened outside of regular game play.

To that end she had gotten behind Quirrel and hit him hard with a beater's bat before shoving him in the closet and then using a minor bit of alchemy to keep the door closed. By the time that idiot got out, Harry's game would be long over.

And since there weren't actually any RULES about attacking people without magic, Illya wasn't likely to get detention. Especially since the possessed Quirrel never saw who hit him.

Okay, the pseudo bloodshed was somewhat fun to watch, but after a while it got really boring, really fast.

And without the chance of Quirrel tampering with the broom, Illya was quite bored.

Finally Harry snagged the Snitch, winning the game for Slytherin. McGonagall looked constipated even from where Illya was sitting, which amused her somewhat.

Harry looked happy to have won the game for his house.

"I told you nothing would happen," said Illya smugly.

Harry paused, and looked at her.

"You did something devious again didn't you?"

"Who, me? I'm an innocent first year," said Illya with a fake smile.

Harry sighed. It wasn't a stretch to say he was closest to the odd albino girl who scared everyone BUT him. He was the only one who could sit next to her without a single peep of objection.

"Keep that up and you'll start to give the upper years nightmares of you plotting their demise. I have it on good authority Blaise has been specially warding his bed in the event you decided to turn him into a zombie slave or something. Apparently he considers you more terrifying than his own mother when she's plotting to get another husband."

Illya's grin shifted slightly.

"Oh good, a boy who's been properly trained."

Daphne was going to be pleased. If only because she felt Illyasviel was worth a good, long laugh at someone else's misery.

At the very least, according to the Greengrass heiress, things wouldn't be as boring as she feared at school.

On the plus side, the girls now had an unofficial champion against the boys.

Illya nodded to Professor Snape, who nodded back.

"So what are your plans for Christmas?"

"I'm calling my dad to see if he can pick me up from the airport. I'm sure he misses me," said Illya with a straight face.

What she neglected to add was that Kiritsugu was more likely to believe a phone call than an owl, since he had no contact with wizards, and therefor wasn't likely to actually take a letter seriously.

A phone call was much more believable, especially if she dropped a few pieces only Illyasviel would know. Things like the fact she played a game to pick out walnut buds, or that Kiritsugu had once commented on the fact his gun was heavier than his own child.

Sure, he was likely to be surprised that Illya was now eleven, but she was sure she could talk quickly enough to keep him from being too suspicious.

Namely facts about the Fifth Grail War, and things about Shirou only someone who had met him would know.

Even if it had been brief, only someone who had met him face to face would realize he had Avalon inside him, or that his dream was to literally become a hero.

Which meant Illya did have a chance to convince her father she was who she said she was. Even if it meant having to take a DNA test to prove it.

Either way, it was preferable to returning to the drafty castle in Germany.

* * *

A small figure with snow-white hair and red eyes stalked through the corridor. The defenses on the stone were quite clear.

A Cerberus, a Devil's Snare, flying keys, a massive Wizard's Chess, a troll, potions and the final trap, which was the infamous Mirror of the Erised.

Illya had worked her way back from the potions, since the first three were simple. She had even timed it so that Quirrel would get most of the blame, going so far as to steal his wand.

Any Magus who had bothered to get a _wizard's_ education knew how the stupid things worked. All you needed was a piece of the person and you could fake their signature.

In this case she had gotten a piece of clothing from his room (which wasn't even warded that well) and had it wrapped around the handle.

Sweat worked as well as blood or hair. And the sock was dirty enough to pull off what she was planning. And if she dropped the wand, no one would be able to tell _she_ was the thief.

Any idiot who had a passable knowledge of Greek mythology could get past the first trap. And Illya loved dogs.

She started humming some song she vaguely remembered her mother humming when she was little, and after a while "Fluffy" fell sound asleep. She managed to move the paw and then took out the magical equivalent of weed killer.

Two minutes later, the plant was twitching, but no longer an issue. Thanks to the fact she borrowed Harry's broom, she was able to fly down and past the trap. When she reached the keys, she took something most pure bloods wouldn't recognized.

A crowbar. With a little application of force and WD-40, and the door came off the hinges.

Honestly, wizards never thought things through. Any idiot could come up with a solution to these problems if they knew the traps.

Knowing that the chess set had a specific trigger, Illya decided to use a wizard's mentality against them.

Wizards tended to have a simple thought process. One might say they exemplified "Occam's Razor" when it came to magic. The simplest solution was often the right one.

When the simple solution didn't work, most of the time they either tried it again or kept trying similar solutions until it did work. Or they gave up.

A Magus tried everything.

In this case Illya flew past by staying close to the wall and never coming more than half a foot to the chess board.

Once she was past that trap, she repeated her earlier treatment to the door that lead to the Troll.

She briefly paused to hit the troll with her Mystic Eyes of Petrification. It stopped the beast cold, and it wouldn't keep it down for long. Illya would have to draw upon something like Heaven's Feel if she wanted to take down a dragon or anything close to that level of magic resistance.

But for a mere mountain troll? Yeah, she could handle that.

Once she was past that, she put the broom up into the expanding bag. She couldn't fly past the flames, and she didn't want to give Harry a reason to ask why there were burn marks on his broom.

Illya briefly scanned the paper, before downing the bottle. She walked right through the flames without a moment's hesitation.

It was when she saw the mirror that she smirked.

Time to rob a school.

She faced the mirror and if she hadn't known what it could do, it could have thrown a wrench into her plans.

She saw herself with her family. Her father, mother, older brother and the two maids. She saw herself with a much more innocent and optimistic look. In fact...was there something other than the stone in her pocket?

Her eyes widened in shock when she saw what looked like one of those sticks from some magical girl anime.

The thing was, she recognized that stick.

Suddenly her appearance in Diagon made a hell of a lot more sense. She really, really wanted to curse up a storm.

Zelretch.

Occam's Razor...the simplest answer was usually the right one.

The master of the Kaleidoscope would have the ability to drag her through time and space, and possibly fix whatever was wrong with her body that prevented her from aging past nine. It would certainly explain how the hell she ended up in a known wizard alley in _London_ when she was about to die in Fuyuki City at the hands of Gilgamesh.

Which really begged the question...why did he save her?

Illya shook her head. She had a job to do, and she didn't have time to ask questions that could get her busted.

She focused on one thing. She wanted to find the stone, but she didn't want to use it. She saw her alternate self wink broadly at her with a mischievous smirk...before she placed it into Illya's right front pocket.

Illya felt it drop, and nodded to her mirrored counterpart.

In less than fifteen minutes, Illya was gone and out of the third floor corridor and back in the well traveled corridor, making it look like she spent some time in the deeper parts of the library for the past hour. Which wasn't that unusual, and she had made a point to establish a baseline for that assumption.

Now to test the stone to see if Flamel really was stupid enough to hand over his life's work to a former friend.

* * *

Dumbledore's expression was totally worth stealing the stone early. Especially since she got to enjoy the "Oh Shit!" look on his face right before boarding the train.

Crabbe and Goyle would stay with her until the train station, since she planned to call her father post haste from the muggle side. They could enjoy seeing their parents again and explaining in intimate detail in person why they had ditched Draco despite orders.

Illya waited until she had ditched her watchers, before walking straight into an electronics store and buying a burner phone.

She was technologically stunted, not stupid. And pay phones could be traced far more easily than burners. And in the event that the von Einzberns find out she existed, she didn't want to make it too easy for them to locate her.

Well...that and she may have picked up a few things before her father left for Fuyuki. Such as burners are more useful than a cell that was on a plan. You could easily replace a burner phone.

She waited until the phone was active, waiting for someone to pick up. By the time line alone, she could guess that Shirou wasn't at the house.

She had a large store of patience, which was almost immediately used up as she waited with baited breath to hear a voice she hadn't heard in a long time.

Finally someone picked up.

" _Moshi Moshi?"_

Illya could have cried.

"Hello...Otou-san."

You could have heard a pin drop on the other end of the line. It certainly felt like everything else had fallen away on her end.

" _Who is this?"_

Illya had to attack this strategically and logically. Two things a wizard would never think to do, but a Magus definitely would.

"This is the daughter you left behind in a cold castle just before storming off to a war you never won. The same war that cost you your wife and the girl you trained."

The silence was even more pointed now.

" _This can't be my daughter. I know for a fact that her_ grandfather _is keeping a tight lid on her."_

"The same daughter you played a game of picking walnut buds in the snow right before you left? The daughter you hugged while promising you'd come back for?" said Illya.

" _You have thirty seconds before I get someone to track this number down and hunt you."_

So Illya said the one thing that would make him believe a _possibility_ of it being his daughter.

"Zelretch."

The master of the Kaleidoscope was known for doing things at random to annoy the hell out of them. So the possibility of him taking Illya from the von Einzberns was there. Slim, but very real.

"Also if you think I was stupid enough to give you a chance to track the number down, don't bother. You might not have trained me but even a child can pick up small things like learning to use burner phones to avoid being tracked. Just like only a Master in the _Fifth_ Grail War would be aware that your _SON_ Shirou Emiya has the Noble Phantasm known as Avalon lodged in his body, likely to save his life from the wounds he had from the Fuyuki Fire that _you_ started when you ordered Saber to destroy the Grail shortly after her fight with that bastard Gilgamesh, who was summoned as an Archer by the Tohsaka clan."

" _...Where are you?"_

"I'm currently in London, but as I've apparently traveled back in time and space, I've been forced to hide among the _wizards_. Which was why I chose to wait until Christmas break, since I knew that the former Magus Killer would have no reason to believe a letter delivered by owls. I also have an artifact that might save your life, but there's no guarantee considering the source I stole it from."

Illyasviel knew full well how the mind of the Magus Killer worked. She was his daughter after all.

" _Can you find a place to stay for a day or two?"_

"I'll be at the Leaky Cauldron. Feel free to have the goblins order a blood test if you want to confirm I'm really Illyasviel."

She knew he would. Paranoia ran deep, even if the hope he might have his daughter back was rather strong.

* * *

In his quest to retrieve Illya, he honestly _wouldn't_ have guessed she would call HIM instead of the other way around.

Zelretch though. The moment she said that name any possibility it _could_ be his Illya shot up through the roof. He could easily see the Troll of Clock Tower stealing his daughter right from under the Einzbern's nose just to piss off the head of the family.

So when he got to the Leaky Cauldron, and found a girl who bore an almost striking resemblance to his daughter, only _properly_ aged, he naturally gravitated to her.

The girl turned, saw him, and her entire face lit up.

They went into Diagon (making Kiritsugu's face grimace at how outdated it was) and into Gringotts. He honestly had _no_ idea that the goblins had been literally crediting his wizard kills with his own account.

Confirming this really _was_ Illyasviel was a relief. It was better to trust, but verify when it came to these things.

Shirou was going to be in for a real surprise when they got back.

* * *

Illya was glad she had the foresight to bring a camera. The look on Shirou's face when he was introduced to his _older_ sister was hilarious.

"So...you're going to Hogwarts?" said Shirou.

"Mostly out of convenience, but also to establish a power base not dependent on my mother's family. If they found out there were now two Illyasviel's, they might try to eliminate the spare. I do plan to summon Berserker early though."

"Berserker?"

"One of the Seven Servant classes traditionally summoned during a Grail War. Berserker is also known as the 'Mad Servant', and usually comes with a Mad Enhancement skill. Though as a side effect it makes them harder to control."

"Not during dinner," said Kiritsugu absentmindedly.

"Iris! Off the table!" said Illya in a scolding voice. The pale cat jumped onto her shoulder immediately.

"Iris?" said Shirou.

"Short for Irisviel. I named her after my mother," explained Illya.

"SHII-ROU! When's dinner!" shouted an enthusiastic woman who came bursting in without much warning. She stopped cold when she saw Illya and her cat Iris. "Who is this?"

"Taiga, meet my daughter Illyasviel," said Kiritsugu not looking up from his paper.

"...You have a daughter?"

"I only recently got her back from her mother's family. Her grandfather in particular was...reluctant...to allow me to raise her," said Kiritsugu.

Read: he kidnapped her from her mother's family. At least by Taiga's reasoning. Then again, she was the granddaughter of a Yakuza boss. She wasn't about to judge a man for stealing back his own daughter.

Taiga looked between Illya and Kiritsugu.

"She take after her mother then?"

"Heavily," said Kiritsugu. Illyasviel was practically a smaller version of his wife. Thinking about it, Kiritsugu got up and went looking through his old photos. Finding the one he wanted, he brought out a picture very familiar to Illya, at least.

"I had that one in my room in the castle!" she said. Which was true, she had a copy of this photo in her room, the only picture of Irisviel and Kiritsugu in the entire castle.

"So that's your wife? She's pretty."

"She died right before the Fuyuki fire started," said Kiritsugu, answering the unspoken question that Shirou doubtlessly had.

"So is Illya my older or younger sister?" asked Shirou, cocking his head.

"I'm almost a full two years older than you," she replied. Then an idea occurred to her. "You know you could fit into the age bracket of the private school I'm attending, though I'd heavily recommend you get summer lessons."

Considering the frustration he had trying to train Shirou as a Magus, perhaps he would be better suited to a 'wizards' education instead.

"So how good is a Hogwarts education?" asked Shirou.

"By a Magus standpoint, it's an acceptable one. More like the equivalent of only obtaining a high school degree. From a normal standpoint, like science and math, it's deplorable. Most people would have great difficulty obtaining a job if they only stuck to Hogwarts curriculum, which is why I recommended summer lessons to supplement them. It's not perfect, but at least you would have a base to start from to attend college. However most Magus families wouldn't dare consider allowing a wizard marrying into their line, especially if they came from the English stock," said Illya honestly.

"Why not?"

"They're idiots," deadpanned Kiritsugu. "They still believe it's the Victorian era, and the closest thing to advanced technology is the radio. If you were to mention DVD or even a random part from a motorcycle, most wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about. I will say this much for Clock Tower, at least they know what the internet is and how to use it. Mostly."

Shirou winced.

"And what's the best reason for someone to go to Hogwarts?"

"If you can use a wand, you have circuits. If you have circuits, then you can be a Magus. Besides, with wizard's magic, it doesn't deplete as quickly as Magecraft for some reason."

"Not to mention that if you were a wizard, you could study subjects normally banned by Clock Tower. Mostly because hearing wizards whine about them sending Enforcers is too much of a headache. Which is probably why I have such a large vault, come to think of it."

The bulk of Kiritsugu's newfound wealth came from one simple fact. He didn't have to listen to the bureaucratic whining of the Ministry, since he was an outside party. He was a mercenary, and therefor outside the jurisdiction of both the Mages Association and the Ministry.

A private Hit Wizard, in their terms.

There had been a brief moment of irritation when Draco learned that the name Kiritsugu Emiya was equated to the most successful magical assassin in recent history, and tried to insult Illya about being no better than her 'murdering father'.

Draco and the rest of Slytherin learned very, very quickly that while Illya was almost identical to her mother in looks and most of her personality, when it came to her ruthlessness she was almost entirely her father's daughter.

She made it quite clear to Draco if he tried to turn her father against her, she would display how many painful tortures she knew until his body gave out...and they would be very hard pressed to find it when she was done.

Which was when Harry decided to remind people why he got along with Illya so well.

He made a snide remark about how at least Illya's father wasn't so ashamed or embarrassed about his kills and didn't hide behind the flimsy excuse of an Unforgivable and copious bribes.

There was a reason why Harry was in Slytherin. He understood patience and payback.


	5. Chapter 5

Shirou, despite being eleven, managed to secure a Hogwarts acceptance letter before Christmas was out. Illya had managed to wear down her father on the idea of 'rescuing' (read: kidnapping) Harry from his abusive relatives.

Even Shirou found it hard to accept the idea of forcing a child to sleep in a broom cupboard as his bedroom for ten years.

And with the help of Taiga's grandfather...and the fact the Mages Association would love nothing more than to flip the metaphorical bird to the wizards...Harry could be part of the Emiya family with very little trouble at all.

Though depending on how Illya felt about the matter, the 'adoption' might have to turn into a 'betrothal' to keep the wizards happy. Either way Harry wasn't spending another year with his aunt, protections be damned.

* * *

For the most part, Illya _loved_ her Christmas holidays. It was the first she could ever remember spending as a proper family with her father and brother. Even Kiritsugu cracked a genuine smile seeing his daughter and son fight using snow balls against Taiga, who was like the 'older' sister, despite acting more childish than Illya did.

The only 'hiccup', as it could be called, was the mystery present that had Illya's face light up like a Christmas tree...in fury.

There, floating pretty as you pleased, was Kaleidostick Ruby in it's obnoxious glory, along with two Class cards and a note from Zelretch.

 _'Hope you enjoy my little surprise, and before you ask, yes, I did drag you from your death to Diagon. I wanted to see if you could give Gilgamesh a nasty surprise this time around, now that you're aware he exists. Oh, and annoy that brat Dumbledore. Have fun corrupting the wizards, and for every time you make me laugh longer than five minutes you'll find another Class card or other surprise waiting._

 _Zelretch._

 _P.S. Ruby comes with a mute button. Have fun finding it.'_

So Zelretch _was_ to blame? That was good to know. And if he wanted her to troll Hogwarts and annoy the senile goat, well, she'd gladly oblige him. And as for Gilgamesh...she planned to train until her fingers bled and her body almost broke down to give him the ass-kicking he so richly deserved for ripping her heart out the first time...and for killing Berserker.

Coincidentally the two cards Zelretch left (likely for corrupting Harry so thoroughly and humiliating most of Slytherin) were Berserker and Archer.

* * *

Harry's Christmas was slightly less cheerful or fun, but preferable to returning to his aunt all the same.

About the only thing of note was receiving a cloak that belonged to his father, and seeing his parents briefly in some mirror. Illya could sympathize. Though at least now she had some new pictures of her mother, one of which was inside a locket that also had her father. It was one of the presents Kiritsugu had given her. One side had her parents, the other had her adopted brother since Illya treated him like blood anyway.

"So how was your holiday, Illya?" asked Harry.

"Much better than I was hoping for. My younger brother will be attending Hogwarts next year, though I doubt he'll make it to Slytherin. Perhaps Hufflepuff or Gryffindor."

"My family would have disowned any child who made it to Hufflepuff, never mind Gryffindor," said Draco snidely.

Before Harry could say anything, Illya smiled sweetly at Draco. Without any hesitation, any Snake within ten feet of the idiot moved back out of the strike zone. Illya only smiled like that when she was about to get _nasty_.

"Yes, well I would hope to think that _your_ parents would elevate any child smart enough to hide their true allegiances from view rather than broadcast their true Slytherin side like an idiot to heir over a fool such as yourself. Is it true it took you until you were seven before they took away the house elf that cleaned up your messes and you finally mastered potty training, or did they understate what an idiot you are?" she replied back sweetly, her smile never reaching her eyes.

Crabbe and Goyle, having cleared the change in plans with their parents (namely ditching Draco for a stronger 'Master) stood behind her in case their former boss tried anything. Draco was still pissed at how fast they had switched sides.

Draco's face turned red all the way to the roots of his hair.

"At least I'm not half-breed like you Emiya!"

"My mother is from a much longer established family than yours, _Bad Faith_ , and if you piss me off too much I'll turn you into potions ingredients. I hear organ theft is all the rage among first gens lately," said Illya without hesitation.

Which wasn't entirely true, but she wasn't going to tell him that. And if the way Harry was trying very, very hard not to laugh at the look on Draco's face, he was aware of what she was referring to.

"What sort of family would allow the daughter to marry someone as uncouth as the Magus Killer?"

That blast zone around Draco? It grew about another ten feet. Some were even hugging the walls just waiting for Illya to snap. Like any well bred pure blood, she took insults about family serious. As in Blood Feud serious, if the insult was grave enough. And she might not stop at the scion of the Malfoy family. She could wipe out the entire line if angered enough.

Illya's voice was as ice cold as the forests she grew up in, and just as friendly.

"If I were you, _peasant_ , then I would take care about what you say. My mother's family line can go back forty generations for the magical side alone, and is considered one of the top five magical lineages of the world, even by Magus Association standards. And I'm sure my father's vault could handle the _padding_ it would get when I claim Right of Conquest by ending your family line," said Illya, eyes like slits. Even her cat was hissing from around the girl's shoulders at him.

Draco would have said something, but he was stunned from behind.

"I do believe I said no murdering your fellow Slytherins, Emiya."

"As I recall, you only said I was only allowed to traumatize or lightly maim so long as the parents didn't come back to yell at you," she replied instantly.

"If you're going to put my godson in his place, then please, at least wait until the school year is over and it's not my problem," said Snape.

"I'll keep that under consideration, though you may wish to warn his parents that if he doesn't learn to curb his stupidity they will be down an heir," said Illya.

Snape looked her in the eyes and barely kept himself from shuddering.

Illyasviel Emiya was a girl who wouldn't hesitate to kill someone, and may have already killed before. He would have to warn Lucius about retraining Draco so he didn't piss off the Gorgon in the snake pit.

He had seen her demonstrate Mystic Eyes to Harry. Any Slytherin that could paralyze another student with the ease she had deserved the title of 'Gorgon'. And it didn't help that she had a penchant for Greek mythology and runes. Even if she focused mainly on Herakles.

Unseen by the Snakes was the fact Snape literally lit into his godson with how much he resembled a Gryffindor by trying to topple Illyasviel without some decent ammunition.

As much as Draco hated it, Illyasviel was the official leader of the Slytherins. And she was a true pure blood, meaning the goblins had verified through blood records (and had the Magus Association prove it was a genuine bloodline) that her magical parentage went further than three generations. In her case, it was twelve generations (that qualified as "pure blood" by Ministry standards) for her father, and her mother's family went back far enough that it was ranked in the top five magical bloodlines.

In short, Illya ranked Draco. As galling as it was to admit.

And Snape would have to warn Lucius that his son was crossing into dangerous territory. As in he could lose his life, first year or not, as well as the lives of his parents if he wasn't reigned in.

Now if only he could get it through Draco's thick skull that in terms of power, he was below Illyasviel in every way. The only way Draco could _possibly_ hope to one-up the girl was if he were magical royalty, which hadn't existed since Merlin's time.

* * *

Illya found herself confronted by a very unhappy Granger.

"Weasley?" she asked.

"Weasley and some of the Ravenclaws are particularly snide about my blood status."

"There are a few options to get the pure bloods to shut up about you being a first gen. Some of them are off the table because you are a bit young for it."

Hermione blushed.

"First, you can become the retainer for an established line. A viable option, because if the line is powerful enough then no one would harass you for fear of angering your patron. Second you could marry into an established line, and hope that they don't try to hold your parentage against you. Third, you ignore it and do the same thing any minor pure blood would to establish dominance... although that's mostly for Slytherins. You tally each insult, then you enact a bit of revenge and make sure that they can't trace it to you, but they know you did it. Fourth, you can ally yourself with a strong line and hope to get either adopted into it or acknowledged as a powerful witch, despite your lineage."

"So what are the downsides?"

"The first one is good, and most muggleborns who manage to make a name for themselves try it or the fourth one. However your position in magical society is dependent on your sponsor, and I wouldn't recommend it until you've established a baseline power for yourself. Namely when people start to recognize you as someone of interest. Fortunately you're still young, so you have a chance to build up a power base."

Illya paused.

"Harry's mother Lily went the second route. As for the third, I'd wait until you've had a bit more education...and have a base to start keeping tally of the insults. Waiting patiently until you strike is considered a valuable trait, since most wizards are lazy and prefer quick results."

Hermione looked pensieve.

"There is, of course, option five, but I doubt the pure bloods would consider it."

"What's option five?"

"You train as a traditional Magus and attempt to enter Clock Tower. Hogwarts is considered the equivalent of a high school education at best, but Clock Tower is college level. They also have a much more diverse library, and don't discriminate against light or dark magic like they do at Hogwarts. Only certain subjects are considered Taboo and worth a Sealing Designation, and there's generally a good reason."

"What is a Magus?" asked Hermione.

"Magi are a branch of magical that the wizards don't like to talk about, because they don't rely exclusively on wands and don't have restrictions on spells deemed 'too dangerous' by pure bloods all because they think it's too new, or because they were made by first gens."

Illya went and got a book from her own personal collection. It was a basic magecraft book, and not one that Hermione could use without proper training.

"Read this, and I want you to point out any references to pure bloods or bias against first gens," said Illya simply.

Hermione, to her credit, read the entire first three chapters in less than fifteen minutes. Her eyebrows went up by the first chapter, and stayed there for the other two.

"I can't find a single hint of bias against muggleborns or reference that pure bloods are superior."

"Magi don't discriminate against first gens because they think their blood is superior...though some might. Magi would discriminate because a first-generation mage doesn't have the resources, knowledge or technique that comes from being part of a large magical family. However there are documented cases of a 'muggleborn' being adopted _into_ a family if they show enough talent at a certain form of magic, or married into it. Which would give them more access to tomes normally kept in-house."

"Like who?"

"Lord El-Melloi of Clock Tower. His birth name is Waver Velvet, a third generation mage. However after a certain magical ritual called Heaven's Feel, he worked hard and was eventually adopted into the El-Melloi family, and is a respected teacher of Magi. By wizard standards he would _barely_ rate as a minor pure blood, if that, and now he's a Lord. He also has a fascination for video games and anything to do with Iskander, who is also called 'Alexander the Great'."

Hermione's eyes sparkled.

"Do you think he might be interested in speaking with me?"

"I'd have to ask around, but if you word it right, he might."

Like if she agreed to summon Iskander for the next war, and to keep him around? It was doable, if not exactly practical since it meant Hermione would have to actually _participate_ for the next Grail War.

Hermione perked up at that.

"For now Granger, your best bet is to keep your head down, study until you're at the top of whatever field interests you the most, and start asking around for apprenticeships once you find your niche. A Hogwarts education is a good base to start from, but you won't get anywhere in the world if that's all you have. Oh, and I'd recommend summer courses for your mundane subjects, otherwise you'll fall hopelessly behind before you even reach puberty."

Hermione made a face.

"Thanks for reminding me. I want to get into college, and none of the older students know of anything close to a science or biology class here," said Hermione.

"You could use that information to start a power base with the other first gens," said Illya. Hermione perked up at that.

"A separate study group for mundane subjects. That could work," she said, muttering to herself.

Illya left, humming something under her breath that she heard once from a popular movie.

" _Are you_

 _Are you_

 _Coming to the tree_

 _Where they strung up a man they say who murdered three_

 _Strange things did happen here_

 _No stranger would it be_

 _If we met at midnight_

 _In the hanging tree_

 _Are you_

 _Are you_

 _Coming to the tree_

 _Where a dead man called out_

 _For his love to flee_

 _Strange things did happen here_

 _No stranger would it be_

 _If we met at midnight_

 _In the hanging tree_

 _Are you_

 _Are you_

 _Coming to the tree_

 _Where I told you to run_

 _So we'd both be free_

 _Strange things did happen here_

 _No stranger would it be_

 _If we met at midnight_

 _In the hanging tree_

 _Are you_

 _Are you_

 _Coming to the tree_

 _Wear a necklace of hope_

 _Side by side with me_

 _Strange things did happen here_

 _No stranger would it be_

 _If we met at midnight_

 _In the hanging tree_

 _Are you_

 _Are you_

 _Coming to the tree_

 _Where I told you to run so we'd both be free_

 _Strange things did happen here_

 _No stranger would it be_

 _If we met at midnight_

 _In the hanging tree."_

( _The Hanging Tree_ from **Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.** I honestly cannot get this song out of my head, no matter how often I hear it.)

* * *

"A _dragon_?" said Illya with honest shock.

After seeing the beast in question, Illya could only lose interest. The thing was pathetic, and she would rather harvest the thing for potion ingredients.

"It's cute I suppose, but I'd rather own a miniature Cerberus. At least _they're_ trainable, even if you have to establish dominance almost immediately."

Hagrid dropped his teapot in surprise.

Illya gave him a lazy grin.

"Though I suppose you'd know about that, wouldn't you Hagrid? Unless that rather large one in the third floor corridor isn't one of yours," said Illya.

"'Ere now, 'ow do you know about Fluffy?"

Harry turned to look at Illya oddly.

"Is that why you keep transfiguring Draco's homework into large red balls that disappear within hours?"

"Well he can honestly claim a dog destroyed his homework," said Illya straight faced. "Besides Fluffy absolutely loves chasing them. Poor thing must be so cooped up in there."

Hagrid looked torn between telling her anything, and the sudden explanation for where all that red stuff came from whenever he went to feed his dog. Instead he settled on the fact Illya seemed to like dogs.

"So Hagrid, would you know where I could get in contact with the man who sold you Fluffy? I might be interested in getting a smaller breed, and I'm sure I could convince Daddy to let me keep it."

It wasn't like she cared if her pet Cerberus ate anyone stupid enough to enter the forest that lead to the smaller version of the Einzbern castle in Fuyuki.

Hagrid, much to her surprise, actually gave her the name.

Illya then turned her attention to the dragon.

"So how are you planning to raise a dragon, the smallest of which wouldn't fit in this house, on school grounds?"

Hagrid looked at her blankly.

Illya sighed.

"You were so excited about having a dragon that you didn't think about lodging and other necessities did you?"

Seeing his expression, Illya shook her head.

"First we need to come up with a _legal_ reason for you to OWN a dragon. Then we'll work on a place to keep it, and work from there," said Illya.

Hagrid perked up. He knew there was a reason he liked the odd girl, even if she was a bit scary to the other students.

"And I'll help!" said Harry.


	6. Chapter 6

Illya and Harry drafted Hermione, Neville and several others who actually _liked_ Hagrid enough to get over the technical illegality of what they were trying to do.

"Alright everyone, we have only one goal here."

Everyone had their attention solely on Illya.

"We are going to help Hagrid keep his new...pet...or at the very least find a sanctuary that won't ask questions if we fail."

"I think the twins mentioned an older brother who works at a Dragon Reserve," said Harry.

"Okay, so that will be our back up. Neville, you've got the highest consistent score in herbology all year. I want you to find the best flame resistant plants we can use to hide the main cave so none of the more...idiotic...students will bother the dragon. Hermione, you're on legal. I want you to find any clause or loophole we can exploit so Hagrid can keep his dragon. I don't care how obscure it is, even if you have to outsource a translation."

Hermione nodded, already anticipating the large number of books she'd be reading soon.

"Harry, you're going to help coach Hagrid on how to act in the event we have to explain to the Ministry. As much as I love his taste in pets, Hagrid will automatically be discriminated against because he's half-giant and already has a record against him. So his best bet would to have a spokesperson."

"I can handle that," said Harry, before he added "As long as you can deal with any officials. I can coach him, but they'll be more likely to _listen_ to you more than they would me, reputation or not."

"Agreed," said Illya, having already thought of that problem herself.

While Harry had more or less come out of his shell, he still hated the spotlight. And people had a bad habit of reminding him that he survived while his parents didn't. He had already been briefed on what they were going to do during the summer.

He would wait for a day or two, then have his uncle drop him off at the bus station where he would head towards the British museum and wait for Kiritsugu to show up and take him to Fuyuki through a round-about port key.

A round about was somewhat more expensive, and cycled through at least seven different countries of varying origins before landing in your original destination. After the seventh the trail would be thrown completely out of whack, meaning trying to track it with the signature was impossible.

They were also heavily restricted for that reason, and only registered 'rogue' hit wizards or mercenaries could even buy them.

Kiritsugu happened to own one with the destination set to Fuyuki.

"Alright children, we have exactly one month before that 'baby' is too big to hide, and Hagrid has to give it up. Let's try to help him keep his new pet."

* * *

Hagrid was in tears.

Happy ones that is.

Hermione had found a clause in the Hogwarts charter that allowed the ownership of rare and endangered animals with the agreement that caring for them would provide experience for future careers. Not to mention boost Care of Magical Creatures grades.

Illya had the brilliant idea of asking the Romanian reserve if they could lend Charlie Weasley for a while until they had a stable set up for students to learn how to tend dragons early. Having graduates with experience on how to handle dragons without wasting time training them on the basics was something any reserve could appreciate.

And best of all, taking the 'Extra Credit' assignment of helping Hagrid care for Ramoth (Norbert turned out to be a girl, and Illya had gotten him hooked on the _Dragonriders of Pern_ series) counted towards their exams in fifth and seventh year. Something those currently struggling with CoMC were very happy about.

Dumbledore was just amused at the sheer effort that the Slytherin 'Queen' had gone to in order to help a former Hufflepuff. The fact that it would provide an excellent learning experience for the students was just a happy coincidence.

On a completely unrelated note, Hermione had accidentally found her calling.

Magical law. The way she made the Ministry officials dance to Illya's tune...the sheer power was addicting, and she hadn't needed to prove her magical ability once.

Best of all Illya said if Hermione could become a barrister in both worlds then she would have Illya as a permanent client, so long as she continued to get results.

"I don't know whether to be scared or impressed at how easily you made those Ministry officials pay attention to what you were telling them," said Harry, shaking his head.

"Considering I'm a pure blood from a well established family, and I've been making _Slytherins_ dance to my tune all year, I'm not. They understand power, and that I will not hesitate to do something unpleasant if they don't take me seriously."

Never underestimate an Einzbern...let alone one with the mindset of Illyasviel.

Her glare combined with the fact most of the wizards in Europe were spineless sheep who thought Dumbledore was a _brilliant_ tactician meant they weren't likely to question a wolf. Especially a wolf that made it very clear you either got on board or you'd be her next meal. And it wouldn't be a quick death either.

"So...what should we do now? I mean Hermione is already going spare over exams..." started Harry.

"I've already dealt with that issue. I refuse to be cooped in the library longer than necessary, and first year exams are notoriously easy. They only get difficult after third year when we pick our electives. After all, it wouldn't do to fail the children of the alumni and kick them out without at least giving them three years to figure out what they want to do first," said Illya.

"And by dealt, you mean..."

"I set the Medi-witch and had Professor Flitwick sit her down and explain things to her. She won't listen to us, and she won't believe me, but having the teachers tell her to calm down makes more sense."

Mainly because she had an authority worship going on that Illya fully planned to break her of. It would be so easy to disabuse Hermione of the notion that Dumbledore knew how to fight a war. She was going to set the girl on known people well known for having excellent tactical strategies and training ideas...and then giving her an unvarnished after-action reports from the Aurors during the war involving Dumbledore's precious Order of the Phoenix.

Especially ones that got his own men killed. So many deaths could have been avoided if Dumbledore hadn't been such a coward.

"So what are your summer plans, outside of extra classes?"

"I'm going to teach you magecraft. Believe me, Clock Tower would love to have you, if only to piss off the headmaster."

Actually she was going to wait and see how Dumbledore reacted to them extracting Harry early. She didn't want to use the 'betrothal' route, but to be honest she could do worse. Especially if she trained him up right.

Besides, from what she heard about him after the war, he turned out to be a good, honest man.

He just had a really crappy selection pool for females.

"I still can't believe how quickly your dad agreed to this," said Harry.

"One, I asked him in a way he would understand, and two he really wants to make up for lost time and what better way than to make sure my best friend doesn't have to put up with a wizard's idea of safety?"

"What?"

"Harry, let me put it this way. It would take my dad less than five minutes to take you out in that house, and most of that would be figuring out which house to aim at. Blood wards are good for manors, but about the only real protection you have from the idiots that followed the Dark Lord is that none of them would think to use a phone book or long distance spells. Your aunt's name is pretty well known, even to the Ministry since she's supposedly your legal guardian."

Harry didn't like that.

"Besides, Japan had more or less banned magical travel for wizards since the last war."

"Wait, if they banned magical travel..."

"I said they banned it for wizards. I'll explain why Magi are still allowed to use magical travel later."

It was mostly for the Grail Wars, since most Magi didn't have an interest outside of that. And even so the only travel permitted was either to Fuyuki or that city where the White Princess happened to be staying at. Outside of those cities a Magus would have to file their travel plans. The location where they planned to be at, how long, what their general plan for being there was, and when they would leave.

Mostly though, people from the Association only went to Japan for the Heaven's Feel tournament, and they usually stuck to mundane travel because it was easier on the stomach...and the bank account.

"I can't decide whether I hate you right now...or want to thank you for having Flitwick and Madame Pomphrey sit down and give me a talk about the exams," said Hermione.

"Give me an answer when I give you a required reading list. You should read at least two of the books I'm putting on here before we meet, and I'll quiz you on them," said Illya. She gave her a list of people, and the books either written by them or about their tactics. At the top of it was _Art of War_.

Hermione only had to recognize them as classics before she nodded eagerly.

"If you do well on my little quiz, I'll even get you unedited after action reports. You can write a thesis on how good a general headmaster Dumbledore is," said Illya with a straight face. "And don't feel afraid to compare him to other tacticians. I'm told he's considered the best person to ask when it comes to the Light side."

If an unvarnished view of how Dumbledore actually was didn't break Hermione of her hero-worship, nothing would. Odds were Dumbledore wouldn't even think twice about allowing it to be published in the _Daily Prophet_ , not if she phrased it right.

Should be hilarious to see how Dumbledore reacted to having a muggleborn tear apart his ability to lead.

* * *

Seeing Harry panic over the thought of Quirrel "stealing" the stone, Illya had to hold back a laugh.

When he planned to leave the common room after exams, because Dumbledore left the school, Illya bonked him on the head.

"Don't bother. The stone is perfectly safe."

"How do you know?" said Harry.

"Because I personally traded it back to The Alchemist himself in exchange for a favor," said Illya.

"...Did you just use capital letters on that?"

"Harry, Nicholas Flamel isn't some random idiot using transmutation circles. He's _the_ Alchemist and the current head of Atlas, a society dedicated to alchemy and preserving balance. Needless to say he was very unhappy when he heard what happened."

Illya traded the stone, which she had already figured out was a cheap knock-off good enough to fool Dumbledore, in exchange for help saving her father's life.

Sure, he had to deal with the uncomfortable sensation of being out of his body for an hour or so, but the new one didn't have the curse attached to it...and Illya ended up with her father's family crest, since Shirou had a greater risk of rejecting it.

Kiritsugu would live...and all because of a little theft. The curse only infected his circuits, and was tied to Kiritsugu himself. By moving his soul and giving him new circuits to work with, the problem should take care of itself.

If not...well, Illya wasn't above asking Zelretch for help. Ruby had to have some way of contacting him.

Harry seemed to calm down upon hearing that. Then he decided to change the subject.

"So what's with the weird toy that's been flying around you since you came back?"

"His name is Ruby, and he's a pain in the ass. Fortunately I did finally locate the stupid mute button," said Illya flatly.

"So...what is he?"

Illya's face twitched.

"A vampire's amusing attempt to recreate one of those cheesy magical girl wands. It can cast spells like a regular one, but it can talk back and loves to put it's user in embarrassing situations. It also comes with some special cards, but I only have access to two of them at the moment, and they're a bit overkill."

Harry cocked his head.

"You mean like _Cardcaptors_?"

"I suppose so," said Illya, making a mental note to look up the series.

Harry perked up.

"I always liked Yue, and Keroberos was just plain awesome," said Harry.

Okay, now she had to watch the series, if only to know what he was talking about.

Harry noticed the weird toy seemed to be doing something odd.

"Ruby seems to want to get your attention," said Harry.

Illya casually hit the mute.

"What do you want?"

" **You do know I come with TV and a basic internet connection to allow video, right?"**

Harry perked up.

"So you have an anime channel?"

" **Yup."**

"Sweet."

Illya realized she had an opportunity, so she seized it.

"Ruby, you can stick around Harry unless I need you...like casting spells on Rin Tohsaka without having the Japanese Ministry come down on my case," said Illya.

Obviously anything made by Zelretch would be untraceable by Ministry standards.

Ruby gave her a winged salute.

" **You got it boss!"**

"And in return, I won't put you on mute as much. Coincidentally I'd like to have a word with your creator, with the agreement he keep his trolling to a minimum. I might have a few plans in the works he'd enjoy watching," said Illya.

Ruby sent a message, before getting an immediate reply back.

" **He said he'd visit you over the summer, possibly with his grandson. Black Wing might teach your friend here magecraft if you phrase it right."**

"Well that's one headache I'll be happy to avoid."

* * *

As promised, shortly after the school year ended peacefully, Kiritsugu showed up at the British Museum and absconded with Harry before Dumbledore had any idea that the boy went missing. Hedwig would have to clear customs, but Harry could afford it.

It would turn out to be the most memorable summer he'd ever had. Illya's dad was scary...if you were normal.

Harry felt perfectly at ease with the man, even when Kiritsugu turned on his "Magus Killer" persona to scare him. Just to remind the boy he was Illya's father.

Harry didn't even bat an eye.

Not even when Kiritsugu offered to train him in how to shoot a gun. It takes one to know one, and Kiritsugu recognized the same broken psyche that made him so dangerously effective in Harry.

Illya was his daughter and inheritor of what was left of the Emiya crest, Shirou was the inheritor of his childhood dream...and Harry? Kiritsugu planned to make him the inheritor of the title Magus Killer.

And depending on how Dumbledore tried to reclaim him, possibly his son-in-law.


	7. Chapter 7

Illya was immediately on edge when she met Black Wing for the first time. It had nothing to do with his obviously inhumane nature, or the fact he was related to Zelretch.

No, it had everything to do with the fact that upon moments of meeting him, she was put at ease. Like she recognized him.

Then again, it was pretty damn obvious he was related to Medusa.

"I thought you were Zelretch's grandson?"

"I am," he replied.

"Then why in the name of the Root do you look like a younger Medusa?"

"Blood adoption with her two sisters, as well as Zelretch. So Gramps said you have a plan to gut Dumbledore's control?"

"I also fully plan to make Malfoy my bitch and punting toy," said Illya flatly.

Black Wing smirked.

"And just like that you have my help. I despise the Malfoys."

"I'm still withholding judgment on the father, but Narcissa from my reports seems like she might be salvageable," smirked Illya.

"Tell me what you've done so far to take control, and I'll help you refine where I can. Seeing Malfoy's face when he realizes he's at the bottom of the pure blood totem pole is something I'll enjoy."

"I'll have my Harry take pictures when he realizes all the so-called power the Malfoys have is now in _my_ hands," said Illya smugly.

Black Wing's smirk was as predatory as Illya's was. She might act childish at home, but she would only allow her usual mask that hit the cold-hearted sadist within once she had her Berserker back.

* * *

"Did you just feel a chill run down your spine? Like a pair of evil masterminds just joined forces?" said Harry suddenly.

"I'm guessing this Illyasviel impressed my adorable grandson."

"Oh. Well that's alright then. For a minute I was worried it was an evil that thought it could compare to her," said Harry shrugging.

In Harry's mind, the only unacceptable evil was anyone stupid enough to cross Illya. She kept most of the idiots off him and allowed him to learn magic without having to worry about that Boy-Who-Lived crap. Not to mention she liberated him from the Dursleys.

He'd follow her anywhere, so long as she never betrayed him.

Zelretch grinned. He liked this kid.

"Say...how would you like your own version of a Kaleidostick?"

"It's not going to try and turn me into a magical girl is it?"

"As funny as that might be for short term, no. I'd rather enjoy the horrified and furious expression of Dumbledore when he realizes he'll never have you under his command."

"Emerald?" guessed Harry. There was Ruby and Sapphire. Emerald paid homage to his eye and House color.

"With dragon wings I suppose," nodded Zelretch. It would be an interesting challenge, calibrating a Kaleidostick to a _male_ user.

"Mind if I join in?" said Kiritsugu.

"Ideas for what to add?"

"Among other things," agreed the former assassin.

"Why don't you go help Shirou with his wand work while we chat?" said Zelretch.

Considering Shirou still had to rely on a translation amulet to be understood by Harry, this would be an excellent time for him to practice English. On the plus side, his grades for that class had shot through the roof because of it.

* * *

It took Dumbledore a full two weeks before he found out Harry wasn't in England anymore. And he spent the week after trying to find out where the boy had vanished to.

He spent so much time trying to retrieve the boy and put him back with his maternal aunt, he completely missed the overseas application from Fuyuki, outside of stamping it in order to get more time to find Potter.

Dumbledore was in for a nasty surprise when the school year started. Especially since Illya's father had realized that since his children would likely be in the middle of the upcoming war, they would need more than a few summer's training.

And what better way to keep an eye on his daughter, son and apprentice than to take the post many considered cursed?

Even if he had to tweak the last name a bit to slide it past Dumbledore's notice.

* * *

"Okay, explain this one more time."

"If you're going to be Daddy's apprentice, then we need to find a role to suit you. Daddy made due with his skills that grandmother Natalie taught him, but you will have advantages he didn't."

"Like what?"

"For starters, Status and wealth. Daddy comes from a magical line down to it's last members, namely the two of us plus Shirou. Any prestige it might have had disappeared after his father was caught and executed for researching vampirism. He barely had any of the family crest left after that mess. However the Potters are an established pure blood family, and the Blacks, who your great grandmother on your father's side belonged to, go back even further. So much so that it's an Ancient house, though the Noble part is mostly upheld thanks to the fact the Potters were well respected. That combined with the family wealth means you could easily fall into the niche called the gentleman's assassin. It gives you opportunity to scout out potential targets among the nobility without raising suspicion, and take out undesirable bloodlines."

Harry's eyes grew hard.

"Like the Malfoys."

"Among others. People like Daddy or even the Weasleys wouldn't get within ten feet of somewhere like the Malfoy Manor...but a Potter and a Black could walk right in, poison the host and walk out if he's smart. Of course that's considered very bad manners and there are easier ways to perform a mass extermination of a family line. Ironically that's part of the reason why Daddy's vault was so big... Right of Conquest is a forgotten law of magical societies that most people recognize, but aren't aware is still very much in effect. So long as there are no claimants to the gold within a year of the line ending, the goblins automatically award it to the one who ended the line provided they did it in an 'honorable' fashion and don't get arrested for being murderers."

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"How is shooting a rocket at a house 'honorable'?"

"I said they couldn't get caught and the deaths weren't considered 'messy'. So long as he's not a mass murderer and doesn't kill indiscriminately, it qualifies. He only killed those he needed, after all. It's no different than what the Danes did to the Saxons before England finally came under one banner," explained Illya.

Harry blinked, considered that, and nodded. That part he could understand.

"Which is why you'll need training on how to act in 'polite' society when not on the job. It will keep the amount of nonsense the Ministry throws at you to a minimum, especially if you marry into another more prominent established line of magical blood. Any child of that kind of union would automatically be considered 'pure blood'."

"But I don't care about that pure blood and first gen nonsense!"

"Neither do I, but these idiots do. At least until someone's able to properly revamp the entire magical society's structure into something more socially acceptable by even mundane standards. Magi have a reason for looking down on first gens, but they also acknowledge that allowing them to marry into the families can be a good thing. The wizards don't."

"So I don't have to believe their bullshit, I just have to play at being nice?" clarified Harry.

Illya smiled at him.

"Exactly! Well, that and learning this will be helpful later," said Illya.

Harry didn't seem too enthusiastic about the prospect of learning this, but he would put up with it to keep Illya happy. So instead he asked something that had been bugging him quite a bit.

"What's this betrothal thing about? I mean I know what the word means, but from the way your dad mentioned it..."

Illya thought of how to phrase this.

"It's like this. You know how the British are gaga about the fact you survived the Killing curse and took out the idiot known as Tom Riddle, right?"

"Yes..."

"Well Dumbledore used his connections to illegally place a magical child into a known magic-hating household. Any of your mother's friends from school could have told him your aunt wanted nothing to do with magic after she lost her sister. Not to mention it likely went against whoever the Potters had set up as your guardians in the event of their death. Considering the climate, I find it highly unlikely they never wrote a will. Unfortunately as Dumbledore is head of the Wizangamot and de facto magical guardian of all war orphans in the event the godmother and godfather are unavailable, it's almost impossible to currently get the will read. And Dumbledore believes blood wards are a good reason to keep a child in an abusive and neglectful home."

Harry's face went dark. He hated Privet Drive, and it was clear that feeling was mutual.

"Which is why Daddy can go one of two routes to remove you from the home. One is magical adoption, but after consulting the goblins it's clear that would alert Dumbledore and he might try to remove you with an additive that we only interact at school. Not exactly something I want to happen."

"And the other?"

"Betrothal to the family. I'm from a well known and long line of magical blood, one that many would quite literally kill to get into. So you marrying into _my_ line is perfectly acceptable. Now naturally that means you would have to learn how to use the family magics allowed to outsiders, and as Daddy has already filed the paperwork for apprenticeship here in Japan, it's acceptable for you to become his ward. So long as the betrothal isn't contested for a period of thirteen months, it becomes official. We've left a few loopholes in the event you don't want to marry me, but essentially you're now part of our family. And nothing Dumbledore says or does can break it once the thirteen months are up."

"So...basically if I'm betrothed to you, I get to stay here and never have to go back to Surrey ever again?"

"Not unless you want to watch the place burn, no," said Illya.

"...Where do I sign again?"

Illya beamed at him.

By the next morning, the paperwork was filed and the time limit was set. If no one contested the contract by Christmas of third year, it would be impossible to break by outside forces. And they had made sure to add a clause that in the event outside forces were suspected to influence either party, then the contract would stand in spite of it.

It was iron clad...if someone other than Harry or Illya wanted to break it.

* * *

Harry was in awe over the smaller version of the Einzbern castle. It was understandable really.

Hogwarts was big, but once you got over it, it was just a school that moved into an old castle and left a bunch of dusty old rooms that no one bothered with anymore.

But this... this was a castle _meant_ to be lived in, and a single house elf wearing the Einzbern crest kept it clean. The food was only ever brought in once there was someone living there. Otherwise the kitchens would remain bare.

And no Einzbern would bother coming this way without alerting the elves first.

Twitchy merely had Illyasviel confirm her bloodline before he keyed her into the wards. After that it wasn't his problem, and she had already confirmed that she would be spending most of her time in Hogwarts, so he wouldn't be overly bothered.

Unless, of course, she called for him specifically by name. Then he would appear as any good house elf should to report. The Einzberns didn't abuse their house elves, and they didn't tolerate abuse of them either. The last idiot who tried got turned into potions ingredients.

Harry was astonished by them...right up until Illya tracked down the Potter mansion. Then he found himself the owner of no less than seven house elves, all very happy to be bonded to the proper heir again.

Harry made a point to learn each of their names and upgrade their wardrobe, which he called a uniform after the whole "clothes equals disgrace" was explained to him. House elves could live with having a uniform. Being given clothes was a sign that they weren't doing their job right...or were cracked in the head.

"I can't help but wonder how first gens take house elves."

"Oh most of them get used to it. But every so often there's an indignant one who gets it in their head that the elves are enslaved because they don't receive visible wages and are sometimes abused by the wrong families, and then they try to change things. It's silly really, because wizards are the ones who got things wrong."

Harry looked at her.

"How so?"

"House elves are brownies. Household fairies from the old country. Some idiot came up with the nickname 'household elves' as a joke because they originally looked like elves, and the name stuck. Brownies don't need money to survive, all they need is magic. Which is why there are certain rites to bind one and release one. It's a contract."

"So the blood circle is a binding ritual, to tell magic that you are accepting their service in exchange for your magical power, and the clothes signify a termination of the contract, which to them means they aren't doing their job," said Harry, going over what he had been told.

"Precisely. What use do fairies have for metal and paper, when iron burns them and paper only has meaning if people _give_ it meaning?" said Illya.

"Whereas magical power is universal. Think Hermione might get upset if she found out that fairies are acting like maids?"

Illya frowned.

"Knowing her personality...and seeing it first hand thanks to Zelretch, yes. I better give her a book explaining the reality before she gets it into her head and gets into trouble."

"So what are we here for again?"

"Mostly to get keyed in early to the wards. And so I can get into the library," said Illya. She was not going to be bored to tears with the Hogwarts library. Never again. You would think they'd have some decent reading material, but no. All the _interesting_ books were restricted or well hidden, and Illya had looked extensively for several hours.

Besides, she needed to have a decent library of books not related to schoolwork or she'd die of boredom.

Harry on the other hand...he seemed to have become absolutely fascinated with the old James Bond series. Though Illya threatened to hex him silly if he started trying to emulate the character too much.

Having a laugh at the expense of the infamous spy was one thing, trying to imitate him was another. Most people mocked any poor agent saddled with the 007 call sign.


End file.
